Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for planning a region of interest of an object under examination in medical imaging, wherein the region of interest is larger than a region of sensitivity of a medical imaging apparatus. The present invention also relates to a medical imaging apparatus, a computer program product and a computer-readable data storage medium designed to implement such a method.
Description of the Prior Art
Medical imaging apparatuses are able to generate image data from patients or other objects under examination. To this end, the region of interest of the patient has to be positioned in the region of sensitivity (field of view) of the medical imaging scanner so that the medical imaging scanner can acquire raw data from the region of interest, process the raw data if necessary, and display it as image data. For example, with whole-body examinations, it can be the case that the region of interest is larger than the region of sensitivity of the medical imaging scanner. For complete the acquisition of the region of interest, this region of interest is typically divided into sub-regions that are acquired on an individual basis.
In the final images used by a doctor for diagnosis or for planning an examination, the spatial connection of two contiguous sub-regions should preferably be fluid. Nevertheless, for segments of the region of interest, it may be desirable to have a more detailed depiction or to adapt the cross-section of the region of interest to the object under examination. This can enable the exclusion of regions that are not relevant for a diagnosis and/or the duration of the examination can be reduced.
Overall, a division of the region of interest into sub-regions enables a user to make significantly more changes and adaptations specific to the patient than is the case with a data acquisition of a region of interest that does not require division into sub-regions. Moreover, the visualization of the planning of sub-regions and their composition is complex. Well-trained users can use the visualized material made available to make individual adaptations that are tailor-made for a patient, to generate higher quality image data and/or to reduce the data acquisition time. Less well-trained users or users who have been instructed to make a data acquisition, in which the individual sub-regions differ only in the region to be depicted, can be distracted by the number of adaptation possibilities available, and the different visualization options. This can delay the planning.